Tamil Nadu's Co-operatives Minister Sellur Raju on Friday attempted to float thermocol sheets on the surface of the Vaigai dam to reduce evaporation. The state is experiencing perhaps its biggest drought in over a hundred years and the government is attempting to find a solution.
The latest attempt however appears to have backfired completely. The plan was to cover the reservoir with thermocol sheets taped together in order to reduce water evaporation. The idea is the brainchild of Co-operatives Minister Sellur K Raju, who invited a large number of journalists to visit the site, near Madurai, as he launched the project. Raju accompanied by his party cadre and officials addressed the crowd to tell them the same. The plan is being executed by the Public Works Department(PWD) at a cost of Rs 10 lakh.
The execution however went more differently than planned. The first sheets placed on the water were soon after washed up ashore owing to high velocity winds in the dam. The Minister was not deterred and himself waded into the water to re-float the sheets, some of which was torn already. The sheets, which were about two centimetres in thickness, refused to stay on the water, breaking into pieces and washing up ashore. Attempts to place the sheets in the deeper parts of the reservoir too failed.
Tamil Nadu's drought situation is of great concern and the water left in the reservoir will not last Madurai much longer. The logic behind this initiative, is to prevent the loss of 1.2 mcft of water daily from the dam due to evaporation, said Madurai Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao. He pointed out that the available water in the dam was only 162 mcft and so in that context any prevention of evaporation would be beneficial.
M. Muthupandian, Executive Engineer, PWD (Periyar Vaigai Division), said that the plan was to float the thermocol sheets on a small percentage of the dam area to study the effectiveness or success of the method.
While the unfortunate attempt to implement the plan has been embarrassing, Minister Raju has defended his actions by emphasising the need for taking action. "Unless we try out an idea, we will not know the exact impact," he was quoted as saying by a report. He added that the thermocol method has been successfully used in other countries and that if it was unsuccessful, it could always be removed.
Officials stated that as alternatives to thermocol, plastic materials such as plastic balls and plates will also be tried out. Another alternative suggested is rubber balls.
Speaking on the potential environmental issues that these experiments may cause, officials stated that any possible impact would be assessed. Apart from pollution issues, substances such as thermocol can be consumed by birds or fishes mistaking it for food.
The latest attempt however appears to have backfired completely as the sheets were washed ashore faster than they could be set down owing to high velocity winds in the dam.
Tamil Nadu PWD floated Rs.10 lakh worth thermocol sheets in Vaigai reservoir to prevent loss of water due to evaporation. (April 21) pic.twitter.com/HdYJ3wm5Gw— ANI (@ANI_news) April 22, 2017
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